Wilmington Travel Guide helps you prepare for your trip to Wilmington, Delaware. You can find here travel information for going to the city and moving about it. A list of the places of interest in Wilmington is also provided here.
About Wilmington
Wilmington is the biggest city in Delaware. It is located at the confluence of the Christina River and the Brandywine Creek. It is also the county seat of New Castle County, the most populous county in Delaware.
Wilmington traces its history to the establishment of Fort Christina by Swedish settlers in 1638. It served as the headquarters of the colony of New Sweden which included much of the lower Delaware River region, including areas in present-day Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
The area came under British rule in 1664. By the late part of the 18th century, the place was called Willington, after Thomas Willing, the first developer of the land who planned out the town in a grid pattern similar to Philadelphia. In 1739, through a borough charter by King George II, it was renamed Wilmington, believed to be after Spencer Compton, the Earl of Wilmington.
The 1980's ushered in a period of growth for Wilmington. The Financial Center Development Act of 1981 fueled the relocation of many financial institutions and banks to the Wilmington area. Today many large national and international banks have their operations in Wilmington, particularly in their credit card operations.
House on Baynard Boulevard Historic District, Wilmington Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Baynard_HD.jpg Author: Smallbones
Travel to Wilmington
Wilmington is best approached by car. It is accessible from Interstate-95, the major highway running north-south along the East Coast. It is also possible to reach Wilmington by taking an Amtrak train. The high-speed Acela train and the slower Metroliner train stop at Wilmington's station.
Travel within Wilmington
The city of Wilmington is served by a network of DART buses (Delaware Transit Corporation). A single-journey fare is $1.15 cash. You can also buy a daily pass of $2.40 for unlimited rides.
St Thomas the Apostle Church, Wilmington Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St_Thomas_the_Apostle_church_2.jpg Author: Mark Pellegrini
Places of Interest in Wilmington
Chase Center Venue for special events and exhibitions.
Riverfront Area along the Christina River that has been rehabilitated.
Trolley Square Nightlife area with restaurants, sports bars and wine shops.
Shopping in Wilmington
Brandywine Towne Center Mall with shops and small eateries.
Christiana Mall Mall with JCPenney, Macy's and Target Nordstrom as tenants.
Concord Mall Mall with Boscov's, Macy's and Sears as anchors.
Dear visitor, thank you so much for reading this page. My name is Timothy Tye and my hobby is to find out about places, write about them and share the information with you on this website. I have been writing this site since 5 January 2003. Originally (from 2003 until 2009, the site was called AsiaExplorers. I changed the name to Penang Travel Tips in 2009, even though I describe more than just Penang but everywhere I go (I often need to tell people that "Penang Travel Tips" is not just information about Penang, but information written in Penang), especially places in Malaysia and Singapore, and in all the years since 2003, I have described over 20,000 places.
While I try my best to provide you information as accurate as I can get it to be, I do apologize for any errors and for outdated information which I am unaware. Nevertheless, I hope that what I have described here will be useful to you.